Stunning...Hypocrisy': New Video Hits Back at 'Big Business Bullies' For Reaction to Transgender and 'Religious Freedom' Laws

The Family Research Council has produced a new video accusing corporations of hypocrisy and of bullying North Carolina and Mississippi over recent laws that passed in both states surrounding the contentious issues of religious liberty, sexual orientation and gender identity.

"We produced this video because the elected leaders of North Carolina should be commended, not threatened with big business boycotts," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told TheBlaze.

He continued, "Despite the fact that a majority of voters support this common-sense policy, [North Carolina] Governor [Pat] McCrory and state leaders continue to receive threats from big corporations who say they will stop doing business in North Carolina unless they allow local government to impose these bizarre bathroom and locker room policies."

Perkins went on to decry what he believes to be "stunning" hypocrisy coming from these businesses — a sentiment that was also advanced in the video that Perkins' organization released on Monday.

Watch the video titled, "Corporate Hypocrisy: Big Business bullies North Carolina & Mississippi," below:

"They're upset because in North Carolina the government cannot punish businesses for having bathrooms designated for men only and women only," a voiceover in the video proclaims, speaking of corporations that have been critical of the law. "And in Mississippi, the new law stops the government from discriminating against people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman."

The conservative, Christian group also alleges in the short clip that many of these companies hypocritically seek to do business in countries with terrible human rights records — nations in which "women are being treated as property and not even allowed to drive" or where "homosexual behavior is illegal."

"Many of the businesses that have threatened to boycott North Carolina are the same ones that shamelessly do business in countries like China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore — countries that not only criminalize homosexual behavior but even, in some cases, make it punishable by death," Perkins said.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (AP)

As TheBlaze previously reported, the Mississippi measure, House Bill 1523, allows churches, religious charities and privately held businesses to decline services to people whose lifestyles violate their religious beliefs. Individual government employees may also opt out, although the measure says governments must still provide services.

And, in North Carolina, House Bill 2 (HB2) recently became law, creating a statewide policy that excludes gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes under the law, as the News & Observer noted. The law also requires people to use the public bathrooms that correspond with their biological birth gender — not the gender with which they may personally identify.

Perkins said that the North Carolina bill also allows businesses the "freedom to set the bathroom policy of their choice."

"It's hypocritical to punish the people of North Carolina for expressing the long-standing and common-sense view that bathrooms should be segregated by sex," he said.

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